The Proposal
by Adolescent Mind
Summary: When Lily unexpectedly refuses a proposal, James, her favorite shopping buddy, chomps on his ice cream, follows her into a jewelery shop and both exit in a completely different light.


**The Proposal**  
  
**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.  
  
A/N: This is a cute J/L oneshot. And I'm not new in the J/L fandom or HP universe, but this is my first fic in this account, so congratulate me and tell me what you think. *smiles* Enjoy.  
**  
  
  
The setting was dim-lit. Soft music played. There were faint, pleasant fumes in the air. The atmosphere was exquisitely romantic, the type of atmosphere in which a teenager girl would fantasize getting proposed to.  
  
"Lily Evans, will you marry me?" a deep, husky voice asked.  
  
And Lily Evans was lost.   
  
  
  
  
  
_Tad Stephens was never popular, despite his good looks not unlike Sirius' or James', who on the contrary, were extremely popular. Oh Tad, selfish Tad, the Tad who Lily had chased after nearly her whole Hogwarts career. She had been hopelessly infatuated with this Ravenclaw god (at least to her) that was equally good looking as Sirius or James, but leagues above them in maturity. The problem was, Tad had always figured he was too mature for Lily Evans. And that was why he was selfish.   
  
He must have stomped on her heart, either directly or indirectly, at least a dozen times. The frustrating thing was that he probably still wasn't aware of it.  
  
In her First Year, Lily had noticed Tad in her Herbology class. When the teacher called for everyone to find a partner, Lily had mustered up the courage to approach him and was about to tap his shoulder when Tad called out to someone in his house. Half the class caught it and Lily returned to her seat red-faced. Thankfully the mortification eased when James Potter said, "Hey Lily, will ya be with me?" and pretended that he didn't notice a thing.  
  
In her Third Year, when Tad accidentally knocked down all of her books and papers in the hallway and pretended not to notice and walk on to avoid being tardy, James and Sirius whipped out their wands and threatened him to a duel if he didn't show more respect. Of course, James and Sirius were dragged away still screaming by McGonagall and the fiasco was applauded and laughed at by everyone in the hallway but Lily never lost her gratitude.  
  
In her Fourth Year, while she was playing Quidditch, Tad had knocked a Bludger at her and she had lost control of her broom. James managed to catch her while she was spiraling dizzyingly in the air and take her safely to the ground.  
  
In her Fifth Year, when she asked Tad to the Winter Ball and he had asked her to give him a day, he forgot about it altogether and asked another girl to be his date. Lily had cried over a copious amount of vanilla ice cream with her best friend, Alice, murmuring sympathetically. Later that night, James had given her a hug and a friendly pep-talk. Though he had received many other offers from girls, he didn't seem to mind turning them down to be her date for Winter Ball.  
  
In her Seventh Year, when she had truly blossomed and turned into one of the prettiest girls in the school (even Sirius commented on it), and even so, Tad had dumped her after a two month relationship, Alice, Sirius and James all sat, wearing half exasperated and half sympathetic expressions as Lily sniffled and digested vanilla ice cream (something she ate alot of in Hogwarts).  
_  
  
  
And now look, Lily Evans, an year out of Hogwarts and already successful and known in the wizarding world, stuck in the same rut. Except now it was different. Tad Stephens proposed to her.   
  
It was what she always wanted.   
  
_It's what I want, _Lily thought the words in her head to see how they sounded. The words sounded sour, half-hearted, a lie.   
  
"I'm sorry." Lily choked out, then grabbed her purse and ran out, leaving one man sitting and looking very bewildered.  
  
  
  
  
_Two Weeks Later..._  
  
Lily had moved out of Tad's apartment shortly after the ordeal. It had been a whole week without Tad, without thinking of Tad, and she felt better than she did for a long while, to her surprise. She'd been going out often to keep her mind off things and one of her new favorite activities was shopping with James, her best shopping buddy, or rather someone she brought along to carry her bags.  
  
"So," James chomped on his ice cream, the way he always did. He didn't lick his ice cream, he bit it and let it melt in his mouth. And of course Lily would know, how many times had she, James and everyone snuck out in their Hogwarts years to get ice cream? "you've been waiting for this guy, basically... forever, and just when he proposes, you realize he's not the guy for you?"  
  
"I know that sounds bonkers." Lily sighed, licking on her own ice cream.  
  
"You're right, Lily, it does sound bonkers." he teased.  
  
"But it's true." She caught sight of a jewelery store. "Ooh, we have to go in there!"  
  
They entered the store.  
  
"Besides," Lily said, "you know what type of guy Tad is, if I was engaged to him, I'd probably get the ugliest ring ever."  
  
They started laughing and choosing the ugliest rings they could find. Lily triumphantly held up a large yellow brooch-looking object, except it was a ring.   
  
"I doubt even Tad could beat that one." James commented.  
  
"I'll try it on for fun." Lily said.  
  
"Let me put it on."   
  
Lily looked up at him but the ring was already in his hands and he held her left hand gently, and it almost touched her that an athletic guy like James who never seemed to have trouble mouthing off at teachers or arguing with referees during Quidditch games or dueling with other boys, had never treated Lily with anything but gentleness and sincerity. He slipped the ring on slowly and when he was done, Lily smiled at him softly.   
  
"Why did you say no to Tad, Lily?"  
  
"Be-- because... I don't think he...can..." She felt shaken and the words weren't coming out the right way.  
  
"Hey, hey, it's okay." James wrapped his arms around her waist like he did so many times before, but it felt different. He rested his forehead on hers.   
  
"I don't think he can ever care as much as you." she murmured.  
  
James looked at her with a wry grin. And his brown eyes were swimming in hers, and she let out a gasp because she felt a shiver of electricity from where James held her all the way to her toes. He was so close, she couldn't help but lift her chin and they kissed, hungrily, passionately. It was different with James than Tad because with Tad there was gauging and timing and thinking involved. With James the world was spinning and balance was lost and right became wrong and everything was done by instinct. Her fingers were locked in James' hair when they heard an _ahem_.  
  
The sales woman looked faintly amused. "Would you like that ring?"  
  
James and Lily looked down at the yellow ring they originally picked out when they were looking for the ugliest rings they could find.   
  
"Yes," James said. "We would like it."   
  
When they were walking down the street, James said off-handedly, "Who knew an ugly piece of junk like that would cost so much?" But it was different. Everything was different now.  
  
  
  
**If you're reading this, stop hesitating and review! :P **


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